Grandstands edging closer to demolition

The City is getting ready to find bidders to tear down the grandstands at Morrow Park

Morrow Park grandstan

Scott Twiss, employee with Kawartha Capital Construction in Peterborough, repairs a hole in the Morrow Park grandstand on Thursday (July 24, 2008). The grandstand needed work to be ready for the Peterborough Exhibition after undergoing repairs to make it structurally sound.

Grandstand

Lance Anderson

John Preston, operations coordinator at Morrow Park, posts signs at the exhibition grandstand warning people about its unsafe condition back in 2008.

(PETERBOROUGH) The City is preparing to tear down the grandstands at Morrow Park, but council will have the final say.

Community Services director Ken Doherty confirms that two requests for proposals are being prepared: one to identify if there are any hazardous materials in the grandstands and the other to tear it down.

Mr. Doherty says the City is able to act quickly on the hazardous materials assessment, but would wait for the green light from the City legal department and council before going ahead with getting bids for tearing the grandstands down.

The grandstands have been a contentious issue as has the use of Morrow Park. The Peterborough Agricultural Society holds certain legal rights to the park through the Morrow Trust agreement. Those legal issues have various interpretations. The agriculture society says the grandstands must be kept while some at City Hall have raised doubts about this.

The City has spent thousands of dollars maintaining the grandstands over the last few years so that it is fit for people to sit in during the annual Peterborough Exhibition, which the agriculture society hosts.

It has been suggested that future exhibitions could use temporary seating.

The City has plans for Morrow Park's redevelopment and the plans involve tearing down the grandstands.

Council has already approved moving ahead toward a $2.6-million phase one, which is a linear park around the outside of the 27-acre park that is 25 metres wide, dotted with trees and has a trail through it.

While approved, moving forward with any of it is pending negotiations with the Agriculture Society.